Convergence
by HMSSparky
Summary: The Lone Wanderer's journey had been over for years, and with that she travels to Nevada in search of something new. She crosses paths with the Courier, whose journey has just begun, and she finds more than she ever hoped to.
1. Chapter 1

"Why do you keep making me come back here?" Boone sighed angrily. Adrianna looked up from the scope of her sniper rifle and grinned.

"I like being in the mouth of a dinosaur," she said, and returned to watching the roads. Boone disliked setting foot in Novac, after all that happened, but Adrianna insisted on doing so, because she knew it annoyed him. Plus, she liked getting away from the long treks through the Mojave and just sitting down and keeping watch.

The area was mostly silent. Everyone in the small town was in bed, and they hadn't seen even a gecko the whole night. Adrianna was a normally impatient person, but she stared with steely concentration, barely moving. A figure walked into her view and she rested her finger on the trigger as she quickly studied them. After deciding that she didn't recognise the person, and seeing that they were armed, she squeezed the trigger, shooting the person in the arm.

She thrust the sniper rifle into Boone's arms and ran down the stairs and out of the dinosaur shaped gift shop. She rushed over to the person, who pointed their gun at her. The person she'd shot was a young woman, in her mid twenties; she was wearing the familiar blue vault jumpsuit and was only carrying a ten millimetre pistol.

When Adrianna didn't reach for her weapon, the woman lowered her gun. "Can you help me?"She asked, covering the part of her arm where she'd been shot with her hand as a means of stemming the flow of blood.

"Just give me your gun a minute." Adrianna held her hand out. The woman pressed the pistol into her hand, and she held it up to the woman's head. "Now give me a reason not to shoot."

"Please, I'm not here to cause any harm. I was ambushed further up the road and they stole all my stuff. They only left me alive because they got distracted by another group of people," the woman explained, holding her hands up in the air.

"Were they heading this way?" Adrianna asked worriedly. The woman nodded. "Come with me, I'll patch you up inside." She grabbed the woman's uninjured arm and dragged her back inside the dinosaur and slammed the door shut. Adrianna took a stimpak as well as some bandages from the desk and made the woman sit down on a chair.

"Thank you. My name is Harmony by the way, what's yours?" She smiled while Adrianna rolled up the sleeve of her jumpsuit and injected her with the stimpak.

"Adrianna," she said and finished bandaging and tending to Harmony's arm. "Are you serious, your name is Harmony?"

"I'd like it if you didn't make fun of my name." Harmony rolled her sleeve back down and stood up.

Adrianna held back her laughter. "Where are you from?"

"Far away, very far away," Harmony said sadly.

"So did you grow up in one of those vaults?" Adrianna walked up the stairs and back into the mouth of the dinosaur. She beckoned to Harmony, who followed. She lingered in the doorway, as there wasn't much room.

"Yeah, vault one oh one." She pointed to the back of her jumpsuit. "It's in DC, way back east."

"Did you walk all that way?" Adrianna said, sounding mildly impressed.

"No, no, I took a train, one of the few remaining functional ones. The Brotherhood of Steel owed me a favour, and I wanted somewhere new to go when I'd finished my business in the wastes," Harmony said. Adrianna took the sniper rifle back from Boone and returned to her position.

"Brotherhood of Steel... Why does that sound familiar?" Adrianna asked.

"We ran into them in Hidden Valley. They escorted us out of the area," Boone reminded her.

"Oh yeah, aren't they like much more powerful in DC?" Adrianna took off her beret and smoothed her dark red hair. Her hair was short, and shaved on one side.

"I guess. I mean, they took down the Enclave, with some help." Harmony resisted adding a few extra details, fearing that it would reveal her true identity. She had no doubt that news would have travelled, but luckily the two people she'd just met didn't recognise her at all.

"The Lone Wanderer, wasn't it? Sounds so much better than the Courier, I sound like a glorified mail man." Adrianna returned her main focus to the roads.

Harmony tapped Boone on the shoulder and extended a hand friendlily. "I'm Harmony," she introduced herself. When she was met with silence, Adrianna spoke up.

"That's Boone. He's not much of a talker," she said, "are you sure those people were coming this way, I'm not seeing anything."

"Absolutely. Is there anywhere I can sleep? I'm really tired," Harmony asked.

"Sure, you can take my hotel room for the night." Adrianna fished around in her pocket and pulled out a key. "Boone, you take her. I need to stay here." She held the key out and he took it. Harmony walked down the stairs and waited for him, then followed him outside and over to the motel. They went up a flight of stairs and to a door at the opposite end. Boone unlocked the door and gave her the key.

"You're the Lone Wanderer, aren't you?" he said, pushing open the door.

"Yes. How did you know?" Harmony stepped inside, looking around. There wasn't much to see, just a large double bed, cabinet and some shelves with a dinosaur figurine on it.

"The Lone Wanderer helped the Brotherhood take down the Enclave; you know the Brotherhood and were even owed a favour by them. The Lone Wanderer was famous for being one of two people to ever leave that vault, and the other is dead. Can you see how I guessed?" Boone stood outside the door and folded his arms.

"Adrianna didn't seem to get it." She flinched at the sound of a gunshot.

"There's a lot of things she doesn't get," he said and walked away, closing the door. Harmony flicked the light switch and the lights slowly flickered to life. They still left the room quite dim, and she sat down on the edge of the bed, cupping her elbows. The sounds of gunfire didn't make the silence any more bearable, so she lifted her pip-boy up to her face and looked to see what radio stations were available. She selected Radio New Vegas, and lay down on the bed, listening to the presenter speaking.

"_It's Mr New Vegas, and time for the news. A package courier found shot in the head near Goodsprings has regained consciousness and made a full recovery. Now that's a delivery service you can count on."_

Harmony closed her eyes and focussed on the music playing, trying to ignore the questions running through her mind. Her curiosity had caused problems in the past, and she was in such a precarious position that she didn't want to risk it. But still, there was no harm in asking.

**Please inform me if I've gotten any details wrong, I always worry about that.**

**I love the premise of the Courier meeting the Lone Wanderer, somehow, so I thought I might have a go at it myself. I wanted to make either of them male, but in the games, I only ever play as a female, mainly for aesthetic reasons, since the character models for males are... less than beguiling.**

**I hope you like it, and please, tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

Harmony woke with a start when the door to the motel room slammed against the wall. Her eyes shot open and she looked over at the person who stumbled inside. It was only Adrianna. Harmony sighed, relieved, and sat upright. She turned on her pip-boy light as Adrianna seemed to be having trouble finding the light switch.

"What time is it?" Harmony asked. She rubbed her eyes and watched Adrianna attempt to close the door twice before finally managing to actually push it shut.

"Don't know, three o'clock, maybe." Adrianna yawned loudly.

"You scared me when you came in here," Harmony said. She drew her knees up to her chest, and Adrianna sat down in the space that she'd made available.

"Well I don't usually have random women sleeping in my room at night," Adrianna said as she pulled her feet out of her boots. "What about you?"

"What do you mean, what about me?"

"Y'know, ever slept with another woman before?" Adrianna flopped backwards onto the bed, closing her eyes momentarily and then opening one to look at Harmony, who was visibly uncomfortable.

"No, those types of relationships weren't permitted in the vault. That's a bit personal to ask a complete stranger, isn't it?"

"I've always been told that I'm too forward. But is it wrong for wanting to get to know someone?" Adrianna stretched out her arms and legs, then sat up and crossed her legs.

"I guess not, it's still a little awkward though. We really weren't taught these kinds of things in the vault. I tried asking my dad once." Harmony paused when she mentioned her father. She took a deep breath before she resumed speaking. "He just told me that he was busy. He was always busy."

"Something tells me you've got daddy issues. Tell me about them." Adrianna leaned forward excitedly. Harmony couldn't help but laugh at the eager grin on her face.

"I do not!" Harmony folded her arms.

"If you say so," Adrianna said, "okay, I need to sleep, so goodnight, or morning, or whatever." She settled herself down on the bed diagonally so Harmony was squashed in the corner. Harmony got off the bed, carefully in case she disturbed Adrianna who seemed to be fast asleep within minutes. She turned her pip-boy light off and paced up and down the dark room. The floorboards creaked as she walked, and normally she'd hate that when it was the only thing breaking the silence, but the sound of Adrianna snoring comforted her.

Harmony looked over to Adrianna, and noticed the familiar device attached to her wrist. She wondered how Adrianna had managed to acquire a pip-boy. To her knowledge, they were only given out to people who lived in vaults, and from what Adrianna had said previously, she could guess that she was from elsewhere. There were many different possibilities for how she may have come into possession of one, but Harmony couldn't shake the idea that Adrianna had killed someone for it.

The sun was starting to rise when Boone walked through the door. Harmony put a finger to her lips and pointed to Adrianna to indicate that she was asleep. Boone just shrugged and walked past Harmony who was leaning against the wall. She reached out and gently touched his arm. He pulled it away from her and glared at her from behind his sunglasses.

"Does Adrianna come from a vault?" Harmony asked in a whisper.

"I don't know, and neither does she, really," he replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Harmony tilted her head.

"Ask her about it." He walked over to the cabinet and opened it, taking out a laser rifle and a stack of microfusion cells. "Here, you'll need these," he said and handed them over to Harmony.

"Oh thank you." She took them and inspected the rifle. She jumped when Adrianna put her hand on the gun, not realising she was awake.

"Now you're armed, how about we get going? Hey, are you any good with robots?" Adrianna asked. The three of them left the room and started to make their way out of Novac and head north.

"Yeah, I have some experience with them, what kind of robots are you talking about?" Harmony ran a hand through her dirty blond hair.

"Securitrons, they guard the gate to the strip and I don't have enough money to pass that stupid credit check. But, I've heard that you can hack them. So, what about it?" Adrianna looked hopefully at Harmony. She looked less hopeful when she saw the blank look.

"I mean of course I could try, I just need to know one little thing; what's a Securitron?" Harmony asked.

"Oh I'm going to have to educate you, young one. I shall take under my wing and you will learn all about the ways of the Mojave," Adrianna said in an over exaggerated fashion and put her arm around Harmony's shoulder.

"If you are going to do that, tell me about the strip as well."

"Well I've never actually been in there, but it's hard to miss. Basically, it's a whole bunch of casinos, and it's all ruled by Mr. House who lives in the lucky thirty eight, but no one's been in there for like two hundred years. Unfortunately, I'm not going to have anytime for gambling. I've got business to take care of."

"And this business is?"

"Killing the guy who tried to kill me and then robbed me of what I was supposed to be delivering. I'm a courier with the Mojave Express, and a couple of months ago it was my job to deliver a package, and I was just walking along, minding my own business when these guys ambushed me. They stole the thing I had, shot me in the head and then buried me. Luckily I was dug up by a robot and nursed back to health," Adrianna said as they walked, "now what about your life story?"

"There's not much to it, I grew up in a vault and then when I turned nineteen I left. I wandered the wastes for a while until I found the Brotherhood of Steel. I helped them with some things, and as a reward I asked to use the train they were trying to repair to travel here. Not a lot over four years." Harmony gave a brief description of her journey, leaving out many details.

"That means you're... twenty three? That means you're older than me by three years."

"Don't worry, young one, I'll educate you," Harmony joked. She could breathe easier now that she'd managed to skirt around talking about her past, for the moment.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter would've been out earlier, if my laptop weren't so slow when I attempt to open up the internet at the same time as writing.<strong>

**As always, tell me what you think, if you want to.**


	3. Chapter 3

"We need to stop off in Boulder City, I've got some junk to sell at the Big Horn Saloon," Adrianna said as they walked past the city. She and Boone went inside the building, while Harmony paused to look at the memorial.

"Here to pay your respects?" The man standing by the memorial asked her.

"What's it for?" Harmony stepped closer to read the inscription.

"It commemorates the battle of Hoover Dam," he replied. Harmony nodded, and went to open the door to saloon, but Adrianna opened it before she could.

"We're done, let's go." Adrianna turned Harmony around and started walking quickly. Boone followed after her, and Harmony struggled to keep up with them. She kept looking back to try and see what they wanted to get away from so hurriedly. Once they were a sufficient distance from the city, the two returned to a normal walking pace and Harmony could catch up.

"What was that about?" Harmony asked breathlessly.

"Hm? Oh nothing. Hey did you know that I acted as a negotiator between the NCR and Great Khans? I think I did a pretty a good job of resolving everything peacefully, no one died," Adrianna said.

"You mean you bribed the NCR into letting the Great Khans go free," Boone corrected her. She grinned sheepishly and pointed at the large tower in the distance.

"That is the lucky thirty eight," she said to Harmony, "it looks so much better at night when it's all lit up."

"It looks lovely now. In DC it was difficult to find a building that was still intact and not overrun by super mutants. Do you have those here?" Harmony always felt slightly uneasy when she mentioned super mutants. Her years of killing the things had done nothing to lessen her fear of them.

"Yeah, but you don't see many. We also have nightkin. They're like super mutants, except purple and can turn invisible," Adrianna said.

"They can turn invisible? Seriously? That sounds... horrifying." Harmony glanced around nervously, expecting one to suddenly appear out of thin air.

"They're not the worst things out here. That title goes to either deathclaws or cazadores."

"I've heard of deathclaws, and experienced them first hand, in narrow tunnels and in the dark. But you're going to have to tell me what a cazador is." Harmony looked to Adrianna, hoping she'd be impressed by what she'd said but she seemed indifferent.

"Enormous wasps that poison you. And they're everywhere." Adrianna failed to a good job convincing Harmony that the Mojave was in anyway better than where she'd come from. A short while later, the three arrived at a large area that was walled in. They walked inside, and almost immediately someone ran up to Adrianna and offered her something.

"Hey this is from the King, for all the good work you've done," they said, handed Adrianna the object, and then ran off again.

"Care to explain?" Harmony asked as they walked through the streets.

"This is Freeside, and the King runs a gang who sort of help out around here. I was looking for some work, so I went to him and did a whole bunch of things, and now they like me," Adrianna explained, not that it helped Harmony to understand the situation any better.

"Right, so where are these Securitrons you wanted me to help you with?" Harmony said.

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. To be honest, I was surprised when you didn't instantly try to attack me like most people do. We just have to go through a gate and then walk a little more," Adriana replied.

"Did you really think I'd attack you?" Harmony asked out of disbelief. She thought that the first impression she gave off implied the complete opposite.

"You learn not to trust too many people." Adrianna pushed open a door and held it open for the two to walk through. The entrance to the Strip was heavily guarded by the Securitrons, large threatening robots with the faces of policemen on their screens. Harmony was certainly not used to these sorts of robots. There didn't seem to be any way of getting behind them to deactivate them, but it was possible that you could verbally hack them, something that would most likely have been implemented as a security measure, in case any of them malfunctioned.

"Please present your passport or submit to a credit check," said a Securitron that rolled up to them as they approached entranced. Adrianna elbowed Harmony who quickly studied the robot, trying to think of what could possibly by the correct code.

"Harmony, go on," Adrianna said. Harmony looked helplessly at her. Adrianna sighed and stepped up to the Securitron, squaring her shoulders and clearing her throat. "Robot! Let me pass!" she demanded. Harmony heard a slap, and looked over to see Boone with his hand against his face.

Harmony thought quickly, and remembered what someone had once told her, something about RobCo and ice cream. "One-c -three-c-r-three-four-m," she said. The Securitron paused for a moment, before telling them to enjoy their stay. She grabbed Adrianna's arm and pulled her through the gate.

"How on earth did you know that? I mean, what even was that?" Adrianna said, dumbfounded.

"Ice cream. The people at RobCo loved ice cream." Harmony smiled at Adrianna's confused expression.

"I'm not going to even bother questioning it. So can we just come and go whenever we want now?" Adrianna shook her head.

"Yes, I think so," Harmony said distractedly as she looked around at all the people, most of them dressed in NCR uniform and stumbling about drunkenly. Another Securitron rolled up to them, but that time it had the face of a cowboy.

"Howdy partner, Mr. House has invited you to meet him up in the lucky thirty eight," it said to Adrianna.

"I get to go in there? Well tell him I accept, thanks Victor, I'll be there as soon as I can," she replied.

"Happy trails," Victor said as he rolled away and returned to his position outside the casino.

"We'll go there after I've killed Benny," she said and started walking, directing her eyes to the Tops casino. Harmony and Boone followed her, but she stopped just outside the door, her fists clenched.

"What is it?" Harmony asked, and gently reached out to touch her shoulder.

"Goddamn it, I've been spending the last two months preparing for this moment, and now guess what? I'm scared. I'm scared it's going to go wrong, and someone other than him will end up dead. I'm scared I'm not going to be able to through with it. And that's just stupid." She laughed shakily.

"Hey come on, don't worry. You've got us as backup, right?" Harmony squeezed her shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

"You helped me get revenge, now I'm going to return the favour," Boone said.

"That's right. Time to teach that bastard a lesson," Adrianna said. She smiled at the idea of putting a bullet in Benny's head, in the same way that he'd done to her.

**Hooray for motivational speeches!**

**As usual, tell me what you thought and I hope you enjoy.**


	4. Chapter 4

Adrianna breathed deeply a few times before pushing open the doors to the casino and walking inside. She paused momentarily to look around the room, and spotted Benny at the top of the stairs, surrounded by four bodyguards.

"Hey, you're going to have to hand over all your weapons," the doorman said to her.

"Yeah, I'm going to need a minute, then I'll be leaving," Adrianna said and tried to walk forward, but the doorman stopped her.

"Sorry, but you've got to, so do your friends." He held his hand out, and Adrianna reluctantly handed over her service rifle to him. Boone did the same with his sniper, albeit more willingly. Harmony turned her back to everyone and quickly shoved a ten millimetre pistol down her top, hoping they wouldn't notice or check her. She gave the doorman her laser rifle and folded her arms across her chest.

"So what's the plan?" Harmony whispered to Adrianna.

"Oh, uh you'll see," Adrianna replied and walked up to the bottom of stairs and waited for Benny to realise she was standing there. When he failed to do so, she walked straight up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and his mouth dropped open.

"What in the goddamn...?" Benny said.

"What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost." Adrianna smiled as if they were having a perfectly normal, everyday conversation.

"How are you here?" He tapped her on the shoulder to make sure that she was real.

"Oh it's just that you ran away so quickly, I didn't even get your name." She winked at him.

"Are you making a pass at me, sister? Because I am way out of your league," he said. Her smile grew more flirtatious, and she flicked her hair out of her eyes.

"Why wouldn't any girl want a guy who'd shoot her in the head?"

"Did I do that, or have you always been like this?"

"Don't kid yourself, you want me, I can see it in your eyes."

"Okay, okay, this all kinds of wrong, but come to my suite on the thirteenth floor. I'll be waiting." Benny walked down the stairs, brushing past her as he did. She waited until he was completely out of earshot, and then went up to Harmony and Boone who were both obviously confused by what had just occurred.

"Come up with me and wait outside," she said. The three walked to the elevator and she pressed the button to go up to the thirteenth floor. Adrianna went into his suite, which was hard to miss as it was the only one with large double doors. She stepped inside and made her way to the bedroom, where sure enough, Benny was waiting for her.

"Are you ready?" He stepped closer to her, but she put her hand in the middle of his chest to stop him.

"Did you know it says gullible on the ceiling?" she asked, and laughed when he actually looked up. "You really fell for that, I had this intricate plan on how I would I get you alone so I could get the platinum chip, but no, turns out a little bit of flirting is all it takes. Now hand it over."

"And why would I do that?" He moved her hand and looked disgusted that she'd touched him.

"Because otherwise I'm going to have to kill you," she reached for her pocket as if she had a weapon hidden.

"I'd like to see you try," he said. She punched him in the face and then grabbed the lamp from the bedside table. He gingerly touched his nose, which had started bleeding, and he took out his nine millimetre pistol. Adrianna dropped the lamp and ran for the door. She leaped out into the hallway and grabbed hold of Harmony and stood behind her.

"I am not going to be your human shield," Harmony protested and tried to wriggle free of Adrianna's grip, but she was holding on too tightly. Benny came out into the hallway and aimed the gun at Harmony.

"You wouldn't shoot an innocent civilian," Adrianna said and attempted to hide behind Harmony as best she could. Benny simply pushed Harmony aside, and Adrianna tried to run away but Benny grabbed her before she could.

"Maybe this time you'll actually die," he said and pressed the gun to her forehead. Harmony wasted no time in taking the gun she'd smuggled inside out of her top, and without hesitation, shot Benny in the head. He dropped to the ground and Adrianna, who'd closed her eyes, opened them, and was surprised to see that she wasn't dead.

"Was that part of your plan?" Harmony asked breathlessly.

"Yeah, let's go with that." Adrianna searched Benny's body, taking his gun as well as several keys he had on him. She pulled out a small, silver poker chip and held in the air triumphantly.

"What's that?" Harmony crouched down so she was eye level with Adrianna and looked at the chip, which was entirely unremarkable.

"I have no idea. Well, it's called the Platinum chip, and it's what he tried to kill me for. I don't know what it's for, but if it's worth killing someone, then I want it." Adrianna clasped her hand around the chip and quickly shoved it into her pocket.

"Aren't you worried someone else will try to kill you for having it?" Harmony asked.

"Word will get around about what I did, and then no one will try and mess with me," Adrianna said. Harmony decided not to point out that all Adrianna did was seduce Benny and then nearly get killed by him a second time, as she seemed so confident. "Now, what about that meeting with Mr. House?"

"Do you ever just take a moment to relax?" Harmony sighed. The three of them walked back to the elevator and went back to the casino floor.

"I've been waiting months to do this, besides; if I stop then someone might try and talk some sense into me. And we can't have that, now can we?" Adrianna smiled. Harmony and Boone both looked to each other, but neither said anything. They retrieved their confiscated weapons on their way out, and as they exited, a man ran up to Adrianna to speak to her.

"My Lord requires your presence at his camp, at Fortification Hill. His Mark will guarantee your safe-conduct through our lands," he said. Adrianna thought hard for a moment, before realising who he was.

"Hey, you're that guy from Nipton, aren't you? Didn't you have like a dog on your head last time?" she asked.

"Yes, am I right to assume that you will accept Caesar's invitation?" he said as more of a statement than a question.

"Sure, why not? I seem to be little Miss popular these days." She smiled smugly. He gave her a necklace, which was a coin tied to a piece of string.

"Seek Caesar by way of Cottonwood Cove, south of Nelson. The Cursor Lucullus will be waiting," he said and walked away. Adrianna looked at the necklace a couple of times, and then draped it around her neck. She turned around to look at Harmony and Boone, and ignored the look of disgust on the latter's face.

"Looks like I've got a busy schedule, now let's go." Adrianna turned back around and started walking.

"Where are we going?" Harmony asked and jogged up to her side.

"The lucky thirty eight, of course. I hope there's a big crowd outside, so everyone can see that I am the first person to go inside there for centuries. I'm really making a name for myself, not bad for a random courier who got shot in the head," Adrianna said and flung her arm around Harmony's shoulders and squeezed her tightly.

"Yeah, not bad." Harmony smiled awkwardly, and tried to hide the fact that she was blushing.

* * *

><p><strong>Goodness this chapter was a pain to write, for two reasons:<strong>

**1. I struggled trying to write the first half of this chapter, I redrafted it a couple of times, and this was the best I could come up with.**

**2. My laptop crashed several times writing this, once when I was nearly finished and I lost about a quarter of it.**

**Some of the dialogue is copied from the game, but it was the easiest thing to do, I was very frustrated with my laptop and even going to the internet to check something could have slowed my laptop to a halt. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and tell me what you think, if you'd like.  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5

Adrianna stood at the bottom of the steps that led up to the sealed doors of the lucky thirty eight casino. She watched the flashing lights for several cycles, and then walked up the steps in time with them. She breathed deeply, and became confused at the lack of a door handle. She pushed her hands against the wall and turned to Victor for help.

"Victor, the door's broken," she said and looked around for a some sort of button. She stepped backwards when she noticed that the wall was folding up, to reveal the actual door behind it.

"I see you brought some friends. Sorry partner, but they're going to have to wait outside while you go up and talk with the boss," Victor said.

"Oh, sure that's fine, right guys?" Adrianna turned to face Harmony and Boone. Harmony wanted to see what it was like inside, but knew that there was no sense in arguing. The two looked to each other, and then nodded at Adrianna who smiled, turned back around and pushed open the door. She peered inside carefully before taking a step forward and letting the door close behind her. Harmony sat down on the railing that went up the steps and folded her arms. She hoped that Adrianna wouldn't be too long.

"So, who was that man that gave Adrianna that necklace thing?" Harmony asked. While she was alone with Boone for however long it would be, she might as well ask some questions and find things out.

"Legion spy. I don't know what's worse, the fact that the strip security is just bad or that Legion spies or that good," he replied.

"Legion? You're going to have explain some more, I'm clueless when it comes to this place. It was easier to understand back in DC. There was the Brotherhood and the Enclave; otherwise it was just every man for themselves." Harmony's voice had a hint of longing whenever she talked about where she'd come from. While she hated the free-for-all attitude most people held there, it had been home for twenty three years of her life.

"Why did you come here then?" Boone asked.

"I have my reasons, and I'm not ready to tell anyone yet. But I will tell you this; I came here because I thought no one would know me," she said. There was a short silence between the two, before Boone spoke again.

"I won't tell anyone," he said. Harmony smiled gratefully at him, but she still worried that someone else would realise who she was. The vault jumpsuit she was wearing was such an obvious giveaway that she was amazed it hadn't happened yet. It was ten minutes later when Adrianna exited the casino. And like when she'd left the Tops, someone ran up to deliver something to her.

"This is a message from Ambassador Crocker," they said and handed her a letter. Adrianna scanned it quickly, a smile growing on her face as she did.

"What is it about me that makes me so desirable?" She stuffed the letter in her pocket.

"What did it say?" Harmony asked and stood up.

"The ambassador from the NCR wants to talk to me. And I have a feeling it is related to this," she said and pulled the Platinum chip out, "apparently this thing can be used to access a whole army of Securitrons that is located underneath the Fort. And since I have an invitation there, I can get in no problem."

"You're actually going to go there?" Boone asked, hoping that her answer would be no.

"I've got three offers lined up in front of me, I've got to check each of them out and then pick one. This is going to be a tough decision, I mean, who knows what kind of reward I'm going to get for doing whatever they want me to do." Adrianna's eyes glittered at the prospect of a reward.

"I hope you're not even considering siding with the Legion," Boone said. She held her hands in the air, as if it wasn't her fault.

"Even if I decide not to, I've still got to go there, so I have to stay in their good books. I guess that means when I do, you'll stay behind?" She folded her arms and tilted her head to one side. She knew the answer already, and he didn't bother saying it. "Don't worry, I'm not going yet. I'm going to hang around here for a while, see if anyone needs any work done."

"Where are you going to start?" Harmony looked around. For how she'd overheard people talking about it, she assumed the strip would be a lot bigger than it actually was. It was kind of a disappointment, but it was still one of the most cheerful places Harmony had ever been.

"I'm going to start with all the alcohol that was inside there," Adrianna replied and looked back to the lucky thirty eight. "You two can come in as well, you're just not allowed up in the penthouse because that's where Mr. House is, but you're allowed in the casino and the presidential suite, which is my room."

"Is it nice in there?" Harmony asked as they walked up to the door of the casino.

"See for yourself." Adrianna pushed the door open and the three of them stepped inside. It was quite dim inside, but what was most shocking was that it was clean, eerily so. It really did look as if no had set foot inside for two hundred years. Adrianna quickly made her way over to the bar, where there were bottles of beer, whiskey, vodka and wine lined up along the counter. Over the course of the following two hours she, with the assistance of Boone, finished off every single bottle that was there. He remained relatively composed, while she had descended into a giggling mess.

"Look, I really think you should just go to bed," Harmony said to Adrianna who was leaning against her and laughing at nothing. She looked to Boone for help, and he sighed and helped Adrianna to stand upright. Harmony got the feeling that this wasn't the first time he'd had to do this. She ran over to Victor and watched as Boone struggled to get Adrianna to walk in a straight line and not trip over stools and slot machines.

"Where to, partner?" Victor asked.

"Oh, uh the presidential suite," Harmony replied. The elevator doors opened, and she stood in between them, keeping them open with her feet until the other two made their way over. After half an hour, Harmony and Boone finally managed to get Adrianna into bed and get her to stay there. Boone went into one of the other bedrooms, exhausted, while Harmony stayed by Adrianna's side, sitting uncomfortably on the edge of the bed.

"You're pretty," Adrianna said drunkenly, and she clumsily reached up to stroke Harmony's hair. Harmony swatted her hand away halfheartedly and smiled weakly at her. Adrianna sat up, and suddenly flung her arms around Harmony and fell backwards, pulling Harmony down on top of her, at which point she promptly fell asleep. Tired as well, Harmony rearranged herself slightly, and gradually went to sleep too, absentmindedly returning the hug.

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><p><strong>Please tell me if I've gotten anything wrong, I couldn't use the internet to do any research because I was afraid my laptop would crash if I tried. And if you have any advice or suggestions, feel free to tell me, I'm always willing to at least listen to what you've got to say. Other than that, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

Adrianna was surprised to wake up with Harmony lying on top of her, and with very little recollection of what happened the previous night, but after seeing that Harmony was still dressed, she was reassured that nothing untoward had happened between them. She prodded Harmony in the arm, and when she didn't wake up, she just pushed her onto the floor.

"What was that for?" Harmony asked, rubbing the back of her head where she'd hit it.

"You're heavier than you look," Adrianna sat upright and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She smiled at Harmony who was still on the floor and looking up at her, annoyed.

"Thanks, you know how to make a girl feel special," Harmony said sarcastically and extended a hand for help. Adrianna stood up and hauled Harmony off the floor roughly.

"Now let's go, we've got some things to sort out." Adrianna clapped Harmony on the back and exited the room. Harmony followed her, and waited as she banged her fist on the closed bedroom door opposite. A minute later the door opened, and Boone looked Adrianna up and down, seemingly surprised at the fact she was perfectly fine.

"Are we heading out?" he asked.

"Yep, today we're going to solve the mystery behind the mask of the Ultra-Luxe," Adrianna declared. The three of them made their way out of the casino and outside. A crowd of people had gathered, and they all gasped collectively at the sight of people leaving the lucky thirty eight. Adrianna stretched her arms out and basked in the attention, bowing extravagantly as if she'd performed the greatest magic trick of all time, while Harmony and Boone stood awkwardly behind her.

They went through the gate into the central part of the strip and headed towards the Ultra-Luxe casino, which was advertised as being the pinnacle of refinement, with a waiting list for their restaurant a mile long. As they walked up to the steps, Adrianna couldn't resist running through the fountain and before they entered the casino, Harmony remembered to hide a small switchblade in her boot.

"Beg your pardon, but could I trouble you to hand over all your weapons?" the greeter asked them the moment they walked through the door.

"If I must," Adrianna said and sighed dramatically, but she did as they asked, and so did the other two. "I hate being unarmed," she commented, and the three walked forwards. She immediately took notice of the man blatantly holding a gun standing by the bar. She walked over to him, and he directed her to speak to the man sitting down next to him.

"You ain't seen a young man with dark brown hair and wearing a white hat around here, have you?" the man asked and turned around on the stool to face Adrianna.

"I've seen a lot of people, why'd you ask?" Adrianna put her hands on her hips.

"Look lady, I just want to find my son. He went missing here and no one's seen him," he said, his voice breaking slightly towards the end.

"Why didn't you say so? I'll help find him, and I trust that there will be a reward if I do?" Adrianna said, sounding more cheerful than she should have been given the situation.

"If you can get my son back, then I'm sure I can put something aside for you. Name's Heck Gunderson, my boy's called Ted," he informed her. Adrianna nodded and walked off further into the casino to look for whoever was in charge.

"How are you going to find his son, then?" Harmony asked as they made their way to the Gourmand, which was the Ultra-Luxe's highly exclusive restaurant.

"Oh you know, I have a plan," Adrianna replied flippantly.

"Like you did at the Tops?" Harmony retorted. Adrianna grinned guiltily, and pushed open the door to the restaurant and went up to the woman behind the desk, Marjorie.

"Welcome to the Ultra-Luxe. I do hope it exceeds your every expectation," Marjorie said to Adrianna.

"Hey, I'm looking for someone who went missing recently, know anything about it?" Adrianna rested her arms on the desk and asked.

"Oh not this again, I told the investigator everything I know and he seemed satisfied by my answers. I know our relationship hasn't always been spotless, but that's in the past and I wish people would just move on from it. The White Glove Society never has and never will eat human flesh, for the last time," Marjorie said. Adrianna tilted her head to one side at Marjorie's small rant.

"Ignoring the bit about eating people, tell me about this investigator." Adrianna looked around and leaned across the desk. "I think I may be able to assist him with his enquiries."

"This investigator was hired by a young man whose bride-to-be disappeared during their stay here. My guess is that she simply got cold feet and ran off, but he refused to believe she could do such a thing." Marjorie shook her head and Adrianna leaned closer.

"I'm here about a man that went missing not long ago. I think you might have a problem on your hands. Can I speak to this investigator?"

"Oh dear, this can't... this can't be, two disappearances in my hotel? What will people say? Go talk to our maitre d' Mortimer, he should be able to help you." Marjorie dismissed Adrianna with a wave of her hand.

"This place just got interesting," Adrianna murmured to Harmony and Boone as they left the restaurant. She approached the front desk trying to maintain a professional demeanour, but she found it difficult not to stare at Mortimer's top hat with mild awe. "Marjorie said you gave a room to an investigator," she said once she was standing in front of the desk.

"Investigator... ah yes, I remember him; he was here about a missing bride. Such an awful thing, isn't it? I very much hope she is found alive and well. Do you want to speak to him regarding that?" Mortimer asked.

"I do, I have some information that I must deliver urgently, and it would be very helpful if you could give me the key to his room." Adrianna hoped she sounded convincing enough.

"Of course, though we normally don't give out guest information, I think we can make an exception given the circumstances. He hasn't checked out yet, go to the hotel rooms and his will be directly above you as you exit the lobby." Mortimer handed her a key, and she took it quickly before he could even think of asking any questions.

"What's the deal with this place?" Harmony whispered to Adrianna. She looked uncomfortably at the members of the White Glove Society. They said that the masks were used to create an atmosphere, but it seemed to be a general consensus among people who'd visited the casino, that it just made them creepy.

"Class and elegance, the two things I lack," Adrianna said, and linked arms with Harmony. "Not that I need it, right? The rest of my amazing personality makes up for it."

"Especially your modesty," Harmony said. Adrianna tossed her hair to the side and smiled, and at that moment Harmony realised just how much she loved that smile.

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><p><strong>I found it quite difficult to end this chapter, and it didn't help that my laptop crashed right at the end, so I lost my train of thought. I have nothing much else to say, just thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

"What are you going to say to this investigator, Detective Adrianna?" Harmony asked. They were stood outside of the investigator's room, and Adrianna held the key in her hand and shrugged after thinking for a few moments.

"I'll think of something," Adrianna said and stuck the key in the slot. She turned it slowly, and the lock clicked. She gently edged the door open, peering inside through the small gap. Her eyes widened at what was inside, and she pushed the door open just enough for her to fit through. The investigator was lying on the floor, dead. It looked as if he'd been beaten, and on the floor next to him was a matchbook with writing on the back.

Two members of the White Glove Society approached the suite, brandishing dress canes as though they were weapons. Harmony took the switchblade out of her boot, and passed it to Boone, nodding at him significantly. One of the men stepped towards him, holding the cane above his head and Boone reacted quickly, stabbing him in the stomach. The White Glove cried out in pain, and Adrianna burst through the door, only to be greeted by a hit to the face from the other man.

Harmony retrieved the dress cane from the injured White Glove and hit the other in the back of the head. He turned around to face her, but was then stabbed in the back by Adrianna, who'd been handed the switchblade by Boone. With both of them dead, or at the very least injured, the three ran out of the room and back to the casino floor.

"Oh this place is definitely more interesting than I first thought. Two disappearances, a murdered investigator, and an attempted murder by the members? This is fantastic," Adrianna said, sounding deliriously happy.

"You need a new hobby." Harmony leant against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

"Come on, there's no time to rest, we've got a mystery to solve." Adrianna grabbed Harmony and Boone's arms and pulled them forwards and started dragging them through the casino.

"Where are we going?" Harmony asked breathlessly.

"The steam room. The investigator was supposed to meet someone there at four." Adrianna let go of the two and pushed the door to the bathhouse with her shoulder. She ran over to the door leading to the steam room and stood inside, waiting for the other two to catch up.

"It's three thirty, we're not waiting here for half an hour, it's really hot in here," Harmony said once she'd reached the room, checking her pip-boy for the time.

"Well duh, of course it's hot." Adrianna sat down on the bench, crossed her legs and folded her arms, clearly making herself comfortable. Harmony groaned, but stayed, leaning in the doorway while Boone waited outside.

"I wonder what is wrong with you sometimes," Harmony said, shaking her head.

"Can I blame my parents? That's usually my excuse, or being shot in the head. Pick one." Adrianna smiled.

"What was wrong with your parents?" Harmony asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Where to begin? Mom was a junkie, dad was a Legion deserter. Doesn't matter anymore, they're dead now," Adrianna said. She was relatively casual, which surprised Harmony.

"I'm sorry," Harmony said unsurely.

Adrianna laughed. "What for? I know you didn't kill them, and it's not like I ever cared about them," she said bluntly. Harmony wondered how she could be so blasé about it, she didn't seem to be pretending either.

"How old were you? When your parents..." Harmony trailed off. Parental death was a sensitive subject for her, and she hoped that Adrianna wouldn't ask her about it.

"It was a few months ago. They were in Nipton when the Legion came to make an example of the town. They were two of the many losers of the lottery, I don't think they were crucified, I didn't really notice," Adrianna explained. She stood up and joined Harmony in the doorway. "Enough about me and my family, it's your turn to tell me your life story."

"Oh, well my mom, she... she died giving birth to me, and my dad died trying to save the project he'd been working on for years to give clean water to the wasteland." Harmony looked down at the floor, speaking with as little emotion as possible.

"Well, that beats my story," Adrianna said. She didn't bother pursuing the topic any further, as she could see that Harmony was upset. The two stayed in silence as they waited, and at four o'clock, a man walked into the steam room. He squeezed his way past the two girls and sat down.

"Who are you two?" he asked. Adrianna pulled the matchbook out of her pocket, and fear flooded the man's face. "What happened?"

"Your investigator was murdered. Now tell me, what do you know about these disappearances?" Adrianna handed him the matchbook and took the switchblade out, studying the blade closely.

"It's Mortimer. He wants the White Glove Society to become cannibals again. He wants to prepare someone and serve them to members at a banquet, tonight," the man said straight away. Adrianna was surprised at how easily he told her everything, and kind of disappointed that she didn't get to use her intimidation techniques.

"What about Ted? Is he still alive?" Adrianna questioned him.

"Yeah, but if you're planning on rescuing him, then you're going to have to be quick," he said, "Did you hear something? Were you followed?"

Someone pushed Adrianna and Harmony out of the way, and shot the man in the head, and then turned to the two girls. He didn't have time to pull the trigger a second time, before he was hit repeatedly with a cane, wielded by Boone.

"Come on, this is now a race against time," Adrianna shouted as she ran out of the steam room and headed towards the Gourmand. Harmony and Boone ran after her, stopping when she did at the desk to speak with Marjorie.

"I cannot just give you access to the members' only section, I'm sorry," Marjorie said after Adrianna demanded to be given full access.

"Never mind, I have a plan," Adrianna said to the two. The door leading to the kitchen was very close to the bartenders, and they would most likely see her if she tried to pick the lock. She went over to one of the tables and picked up a bottle of wine from one of the tables. She stood near some of the other people sat down, and when she saw that the bartenders weren't looking, threw the bottle at them and quickly moved away from the table. She sat inconspicuously on a chair, and the bartenders left their position to ask the other people about what just happened. Adrianna dashed over to the door, forced the lock open and hurried the other two inside, and then went through, closing the door behind her.

"I don't even know how that worked," Harmony whispered. The three carefully crept their way to the kitchen, taking extreme caution when walking past two White Gloves using flamers on Brahmin meat, or extreme interest in Adrianna's case.

"What are you doing down here?" One of the members asked while they walked through the corridors of the lower kitchen.

"Mortimer asked me to bring this young lady, just in case the boy wasn't satisfactory," Adrianna said casually, putting her hands on Harmony's shoulders and holding onto her securely.

"Well be quick," they said.

"You certainly have a skill for lying." Harmony shrugged Adrianna's hands off her, and Adrianna smiled broadly, taking it as a compliment. After opening many doors, they finally found the actual kitchen, where the chef was.

"And why are you just standing there instead of making yourself useful?" the chef, Philippe, asked. Adrianna craned her neck as if looking at something in the supply closet.

"Did I just see a radroach go in there?" She pointed.

"No, it'll ruin my ingredients," he said, and ran into the closet, just as she expected. She went over to the terminal on the wall and typed quickly, and as he turned around to leave, the door shut.

"Just stay there, I'll let you out later, maybe, not really," Adrianna shouted over Philippe's swearing. She walked to the freezer and unlocked the door using the terminal, and standing inside, was Ted Gunderson.

"I'm going to tell my dad all about what you guys tried to do with me," Ted said angrily. Adrianna smiled and licked her lips.

"They were right, he does look tasty," Adrianna said to Harmony. None of them felt surprised when Ted punched Adrianna in the face.

"How are we going to get him out of here?" Harmony asked. Adrianna froze, realising that she hadn't prepared this far in advance. She'd been expecting him to be already dead.

"Are you sure we can't just cook him?" Adrianna's question was answered by a slap in the face from Harmony.

"This is not the time. Okay, maybe we can make a substitute? They're expecting a meal, so what if I just cook up something that looks like human, and they can serve that instead? Then we can just sneak Ted out of here, and expose the fact that Mortimer tried to make the society eat people," Harmony suggested.

"Yeah, it's a good idea. Fine, we'll do that," Adrianna agreed begrudgingly.

"Sorry for hitting you. I didn't mean to," Harmony apologised. Adrianna just waved it off, though inside she was ecstatic that Harmony wasn't actually angry at her.

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter ended up being longer than I expected, and I'd also planned for this little section with the White Glove Society to be wrapped up by now, but looks like it'll take longer.<strong>

**So, I've decided to change a few things about the direction this story is going. From now on, the romance aspects will be taking a back seat. There will still be some, but it just won't be as prominent, and it won't be just between Adrianna and Harmony. I hope you guys don't mind these changes, and thank you all for the reviews and favourites and follows, I love seeing that people are enjoying this story.**


	8. Chapter 8

Harmony set about preparing a substitution for the banquet. She gathered up all the ingredients that she required to make imitation human meat, not breaking concentration apart from to marvel at all the food that was lying around in the kitchen. Adrianna watched her for a few minutes, before getting bored and looking around the kitchen for anything she deemed useful or valuable.

"You're disturbingly good at this," Boone said, and he startled Harmony who didn't realise he was standing next to her.

"Thanks, I think. I'm quite familiar with the smell, texture and unfortunately taste of people," Harmony said and fiddled with the dials on the oven.

"You've eaten people?" Boone stepped away from her, and she flushed red.

"No, no not on purpose. Cannibalism was a real problem where I came from, and a lot of people would sell what they called strange meat, and being as innocent and naive as I was when I first left the vault, I bought and ate some. It was a complete accident, I swear," Harmony explained, trying to laugh off the awkwardness of the situation.

"So, what does it taste like?" he asked out of morbid curiosity.

"A bit like Brahmin, actually." She paused what she was doing to think for a moment. She continued her preparations, and after twenty minutes she was done. "What time is the banquet?"

"Let's find out," Adrianna said and walked over to the intercom and pressed the button.

"Is the food ready?" a voice on the other end asked.

"Yes," Adrianna lowered her voice to speak. She returned to her normal voice, "We've got to get out of here before they get here."

"But we might run into the waiter, and I think they'd get suspicious if we were seen trying to smuggle the main course out, sorry Ted." Harmony smiled at Ted, who scowled at once again being referred to as food. Adrianna agreed to the idea, and the four of them hid inside the freezer, keeping the door open slightly. The waiter arrived a few minutes later, picked up the tray of food, and left. Harmony held her hand up and counted to sixty, and then opened the door fully and slowly walked out of the kitchen with the three following behind her.

They had no choice but to go back the way they came, and luckily they didn't run into to any of the White Glove Society on their way back, except for the two with flamers who were still occupied with whatever they were doing. When they reached the door back into the Gourmand, Harmony opened the door an inch and peered outside. Everyone was sat down at their tables, and Mortimer was stood at a podium, making a speech.

His speech was long, and dull, with most people losing interest halfway through, but Harmony listened closely to what he was saying. At the end of it, he revealed to the rest of the White Glove Society, that they had returned to cannibalism, Harmony stood up and threw the door open so that everyone turned around to look.

"Hey Mortimer, it turns out there was a bit of a mix-up," Harmony yelled. She grabbed Ted's wrist and stepped forward, dragging him with her. "Turns out you didn't eat the boy you kidnapped, or anyone for that matter."

"I have no idea what this woman is on about. She is clearly mad," Mortimer said nervously.

"You just said you tried to make them eat a person. And that was definitely not a person, I can tell you that. Your plan failed, so just leave, before I make you." Harmony let go of Ted and walked up to Mortimer as she spoke.

"But the boy is alive, and they didn't eat someone, so no harm done, right?" Mortimer took a step backwards. Even though Harmony was unarmed, and there was an entire room full of people who would come to his defence should she try to attack, he was still afraid of what she might do.

"Leave, and never come back," she threatened him.

"Fine. But this is not the last you shall see of me," he declared as he stormed out.

"Could he be anymore clichéd?" Harmony said to herself, and returned to the other three.

"I have a new respect for you now," Adrianna said, still not quite sure if what she'd just witnessed had actually happened. Harmony smiled, and returned to her normal self. "Time to get you back to your dad and get paid," Adrianna said to Ted. They walked through to the main casino floor and over to Heck, who did a double take at the sight of his son.

"I demand to know who did this," Heck said after giving Ted a rough hug.

"I don't know, I just found him." Adrianna glared at Ted to tell him not to say a word about it.

"Thank you, here take this, you've earned it." Heck sighed and handed her a small bag containing a couple hundred caps. She smiled gleefully at the money and the three watched as Heck and Ted left the casino, closely followed by the bodyguard. Harmony looked away to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Boone asked Harmony. She breathed deeply a few times, and rubbed her eyes furiously before turning to face him.

"Nothing, I'm fine," she said, but from the way her voice cracked, it was obvious that she wasn't. Boone just looked at her and folded his arms, and it was enough to make her tell him. "It's just... it's not fair, he got to have a happy reunion with his father, and when I found mine after searching the whole wasteland for him, I watched him get killed a few weeks later trying to defend the stupid project of his. I didn't even get a chance to talk to him about what he'd done, and he worst of all, he was disappointed in me finding him. I saved him from being trapped in a simulation for the rest of his life as a dog and he just wanted me to stay in the vault and live a boring and unfulfilling life. I hate him, I love him and I just miss him so much."

Harmony was basically shouting by the end of her rant, with tears running down her face and people were staring at her. Adrianna held onto her arm and hurried her out of the casino and into the streets. It was late, but with all the lights it might as well have been daytime.

"Harmony, just calm down," Adrianna said and attempted to sound soothing, which wasn't something that came naturally to her.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Harmony yelled. Adrianna backed away, but by that point Harmony had run out of energy. She leant against a wall and slid down it, and buried her head in her hands.

"Boone, can you take her back to the lucky thirty eight?" Adrianna sighed.

"Why can't you do it?" Boone asked, though he suspected that he knew what the answer was already.

"I want to go for a drink in one of the other casinos. And scope the place out of course, for business reasons," she replied. He rolled his eyes, but because of his sunglasses she didn't see, and she smiled gratefully. He walked over to Harmony and extended a hand. She looked up at him and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and grabbed onto his with the other. He pulled her off the ground and they made their way back to the lucky thirty eight.

"Sorry about making a scene back there," Harmony apologised once they were in the elevator going up to the presidential suite.

"It's alright," he said. She chewed her lower lip nervously and kept glancing up at him.

"And thanks for listening to my little outburst as well, and not acting all embarrassed by it like Adrianna did." She stepped out of the elevator when the doors opened. "Goodnight," she said and started walking to one of the bedrooms, the one she'd slept in previously, but stopped when Boone spoke.

"Sorry about your dad. It's hard, isn't it? Losing someone you care about," he said.

"Yeah, what's hardest is knowing that I probably could've done something." She leant in the doorway and smiled softly. He nodded, and they both knew that had a mutual understanding. She yawned loudly and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. He stayed awake, pacing up and down the room, waiting for Adrianna to come home. When he saw that it was two o'clock in the morning, and she still wasn't home, he gave up and went to bed.

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><p><strong>Harmony's rant was rather fun to write, but difficult to do so without swearing.<strong>

**Thank you for reading/reviewing/following/favouriting, each and everyone of these things makes me really happy. I love knowing that people are enjoying my story, especially as I'm enjoying writing it.**


	9. Chapter 9

Adrianna had lost track of time sat at the bar in Gomorrah. She sipped at her drink, looking down and trying to avoid making any sort of eye contact with someone. She didn't know what to expect when she walked through the door, though the dancers outside had given her an impression. The heat, sounds and smell were all overpowering, but she ignored them and made a beeline to the bar. Whenever she glanced up, she noticed that there were three people in the corner staring at her. Two women and a man, and after an hour, the man walked over to her and sat down on the bar stool next to her.

"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked.

"What do you want?" Adrianna looked at him suspiciously.

"I want to buy a nice young lady a drink. Do you have a problem with that?" He raised an eyebrow at her. She laughed and shook her head.

"I have nothing against free alcohol. What's your name?" She finished her drink in one gulp, and slammed the glass down on the counter.

"Mike," he said and smiled, and asked the bartender for two drinks, both for Adrianna.

"Well Mike, you know how to win a girl over." She drank her first drink in one go, tilting her head backwards. While her attention was diverted, Mike quickly took a vial out of his pocket and tipped the liquid into the second drink. His smiled grew wider once she'd drunk it.

"How about we go somewhere else?" he asked. She nodded and stood up, having to steady herself by leaning on Mike as she'd stood up too fast and her head was spinning. He held onto her arm to support her as he helped her stumble out of Gomorrah and out into the streets of the Strip. The two people he'd been with previously followed them out.

"What the hell did you buy for me?" Adrianna slurred her words. Her vision was fading, and sounds were becoming muffled.

"Revenge, Harmony," he said, and shrugged her off him so she fell onto the floor. The last thing she saw before she blacked out, was three people standing over her.

It was seven o'clock in the morning when Boone woke up. He went to the other bedroom and opened the door carefully, and looked inside. Harmony was curled up in a ball on top of the bed, but Adrianna was nowhere to be seen. He knocked on the door and Harmony groaned and opened one eye to look at who'd woke her up.

"Adrianna's not back," Boone said. Harmony sat upright and looked around, biting her bottom lip.

"Maybe she's downstairs or something." She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. She was still dressed in her underwear, but that wasn't her main concern. The two took the elevator down to the casino floor, and there was still no sign of Adrianna. Harmony opened the front door to the casino and blinked rapidly by the sudden change in light.

"I shouldn't have let her go off by herself." Boone pushed past her and scanned the area. He noticed a piece of paper stuck to the door. Harmony stood next to him and read it quickly. She saw her name mentioned several times, and the note was addressed to Adrianna. She ripped it off the door and read it thoroughly.

"Oh god." Harmony leant against the door and covered her mouth.

"What does it say?" Boone asked, worried by her expression. Harmony's eyes darted from his face to the note as she wondered whether or not to say what was actually written, but she knew that he'd have to figure it out eventually.

"Dear Adrianna, we were tasked with tracking down Harmony so she could pay for the crimes she committed in the capitol wasteland, and we noticed that you had grown quite close to her. We have taken her, and we are going to sell her into slavery as revenge for all the people that she enslaved. We are telling you this so you can go through the pain that the friends and family of those people went through," Harmony read out. She didn't look up at him once, not even after she'd finished.

"You... enslaved people?" Boone kept his voice low, and threatening.

"I-I didn't mean to," Harmony said quietly. "They tricked me."

"How didn't you suspect something?"

"The slavers told me that these people were dangerous criminals, and that they needed help. They told me that I needed to use this mesmerising gun to calm them down, and then attach the collars to them. Then I would tell them to go back to the slavers, so they could be looked after. I was young and innocent and naive, I never would've done it if I'd known the truth."

"I'll believe you when you say you didn't know, but you still did it. I can't forgive you for that, ever." He looked at her with disgust, and she looked down at her feet, ashamed.

"I know. I can't forgive myself either. But we're going to have to work together, so we can rescue Adrianna. Where might they have taken her?" She glanced up.

"The only place I know is a Legion camp. It's a long walk from here," he said. She nodded, and they both went back inside the casino to retrieve their equipment. Once they had everything they stood outside the elevator. Harmony was dressed in Adrianna's old leather armor, instead of her vault jumpsuit. She didn't want to be wearing it when she knew that there were people after her.

They set out walking, an uncomfortable silence between the two. Harmony wondered how they could possibly kidnap the wrong person, but then she realised that it might've been the pip-boy. Very few people had one, and they probably thought that she would've changed her appearance.

"Boone, I'm so sorry. When I found out what they'd tricked me into doing, I tried to get the slaves free, but everyone there started attacking me when I tried to open the gates to the pens. If it makes you feel any better, I killed every single slaver I came across from that point on," Harmony said.

"I don't understand how you didn't know," he replied.

"I was stupid, and I still am. I didn't mean to drag you and Adrianna into this. I'll go once she's safe." Harmony looked up at him, and he sighed but didn't say anything. "I'm guessing that this is personal to you."

"My wife was sold into slavery."

"I cannot put it into words how sorry I am. I'm just the biggest asshole in the world, aren't I?" Harmony said in some kind of attempt to lighten the mood.

"Not the biggest, but you're getting there," he said, and she relaxed and smiled with relief, knowing that he was joking, in his own way.

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><p><strong>This chapter felt weird to write, for some reason. If anything's off, please let me know.<strong>

**Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy.**


	10. Chapter 10

"Oh my god, how do you stand this heat? I trekked across the length of the capitol wasteland in power armour, and I was fine, but this is just ridiculous," Harmony said and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. They had been walking for an hour with little interruption, only the occasional gecko or coyote.

"You get used to it," Boone said. Harmony stopped walking and sat down on a nearby rock, and took off her boots.

"How much further is it?" Harmony stretched out her legs and rubbed her feet.

"About a day or two, depending on how fast we walk," he answered. She groaned loudly, and the corners of his mouth twitched. "I thought you were called the Lone Wanderer for a reason?"

"I'm retired, and besides, I'm not alone anymore, am I?" She smiled at him.

"We should get going," he said. Harmony sighed and slowly put her boots back on, then stood up and held her laser rifle in both hands. The two continued walking along the road, Harmony humming to fill the silence since neither had much to say.

"What's that building?" Harmony asked and pointed to a large building not far from where they were. There were a few Mister Handy robots patrolling the outside, and Harmony felt a slight sadness when thinking about her own robotic butler that she'd just left in her house. She'd told it that she would only be gone a few days; she just had to hope that in the event she returned home, that robots don't hold grudges.

"REPCONN Headquarters," he said, and noticed a look in her eyes that he'd seen so frequently with Adrianna. "We don't have time to go there."

"Can we at least have a look?" she asked hopefully. He relented, and she smiled eagerly and started running towards the building with her new found energy. The one thing she missed from her days of being the Lone Wanderer, it was clearing out places of anything hostile, and then looting it. She walked slowly around the perimeter of the building so that Boone could catch up to her.

"We have to go," he said with a sense of urgency in his voice.

"What's up?" She turned to him, and noticed that he was looking off into the distance at something. She stood on her tiptoes to be eye level with him and tried to look at the same thing, and spotted a few people walking on rooftops. Boone lifted up his hunting rifle and looked down the scope at them.

"Fiends, they haven't seen us yet." His finger hovered over the trigger.

"Let's just go then," she said and started to walk away. He hesitated, but then lowered his gun and joined Harmony. "So what's the difference between a fiend and a raider?" she asked once they were at a safe distance and back on track.

"Not much," he replied, and glanced over his shoulder to make sure that the fiends hadn't seen them and were following them. Harmony continued humming while they walked, only stopping to shoot any creatures that happened by.

"Y'know, I wasn't always alone when I was the Lone Wanderer," Harmony said suddenly after a while. "I had a couple of companions along the way. Well, two to be precise, Charon and Butch. Charon was a ghoul, and I bought out his contract so that he basically had to come with me. We travelled together for a bit until..."

"Until what?" he asked. She glanced nervously at him, wondering whether or not to say what happened. But she decided that it would be difficult for him to think any worse of her now that he knew about the accidental enslaving.

"He walked in front of my gun, and I didn't have time to aim away before I shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun at point blank range." She chewed the inside of her cheek as she waited for a response. "I tried to get a refund, but a similar fate had befallen his previous employer," she joked to try and lighten the mood.

"What about your other companion?" he asked.

"Butch was my childhood bully in the vault, and after I came back after being chased out the first time he managed to escape, somehow. To get to the point otherwise I'll start telling you my whole life story, and it's a long one filled with tragedy and triumphs, critics rated it eight of ten. Anyway, Butch ended up becoming a human shield during a fight with some regulators, and got shot and killed."

"Your journey doesn't sound as amazing as people made it seem," he said.

"Eh, some parts were okay, but it is without a doubt the most difficult few months of my life, not that there's much competition." Harmony covered her mouth as she yawned. "Should we rest for a little bit? We've been walking for quite a long time."

"Sure," Boone replied and the two walked over to a small encampment and sat down on the makeshift beds, though Harmony couldn't help lying down, putting her hands behind her head and closing her eyes. Her moment of relaxation was brief, as the sudden gunfire made her spring to her feet, laser rifle in hand.

"Who are they?" Harmony asked. Two small groups of people were fighting each other, quite a few metres away from them.

"NCR and Legion," Boone said and aimed his hunting rifle at them. He fired one shot, and one member of the Legion fell to the ground, dead. The others looked around, and before Boone could fire again, Harmony tackled him to the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" She took his gun away from him and threw it aside.

"They're Legion," he said, as if that explained everything.

"And? I don't want to be drawn into unnecessary conflict. Just leave them to it and let's get out of here." She stood up and dusted herself off. Boone retrieved his gun and took one hard look at Harmony, then turned back towards the two groups that had resumed their fighting, and aimed again.

"I swore I'd kill every single one of them," he said and fired again.

"I don't know what to do with you. We're supposed to be rescuing Adrianna from a Legion camp, how are we going to do that if you just want to go around senselessly murdering all of them?" Harmony threw her hands in the air as he finished off the small group of Legion.

"Okay, let's go." Boone put his gun and started walking. Harmony sighed heavily and looked to the NCR troops, who were looking in her direction. She waved at them, and then jogged up beside Boone.

"I will admit, that was pretty impressive," Harmony said. "But please try and not do that, I really do not need any more enemies."

"I'll try, but I can't promise." He looked at her, and she shook her head but smiled.

"That'll do, I don't want to get on the wrong side of you or else my head will probably explode," she said, and they carried on walking. Harmony had forgotten exactly why she'd actually enjoyed being the Lone Wanderer sometimes, but she remembered now. Some of the things she'd seen, and the people she'd met made it all worth it. She decided that she might have to rethink her retirement.

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><p><strong>This chapter took about three days to write, well only two of actually writing, I don't write on Wednesdays or Sundays. I would've had this chapter done on Monday, but I had a performance to do so I couldn't.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this and I just want to say thank you guys for all the favourites/follows/reviews and for just reading this story, it makes me very happy to see. If any characterisation seems off, please let me know, especially as this was written over a period of time, which I don't normally do. So thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy.**


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